Korriban: Unknown Sith Tomb: Unknown Time
Dr. Doom walked slowly through the hollowed out halls of the tomb in the cave. The gray of the bricks was broken only by the purple mist rising from beneath the gray stone bridges that doom walked upon. He couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched constantly! It was if the walls had eyes, and they were glued to him!
He continued down the long hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might come at him. He wandered around around aimlessly for what seemed like hours. He was still being watched, or so he felt! He kept turning around and doing double takes. Once he thought he'd seen a blue figure in a black mask standing behind him for a split second, and when he double taked the man was gone. He had dismissed this as fear, however. He hated being scared. It made him sweat.
He opened the door at the end of the long hall, hand trembling slightly.
"Get it together, Doom!" He muttered to himself.
But he was still shivering. Unable to stop, he stood absolutely still for a few minutes. He attempted to calm his mind and body. Hoping he had finally achieved temporary piece of mind, he continued on through the gray/purple tomb.
After a few moments of walking more, he came to a stop in front of a blue man in a black mask. He was slightly transparent!
Doom hurriedly stepped backwards, and fell over, landing on his behind. The ghost slowly walked over to Doom. Not floating, just walking. He looked like he was holding an astral weapon of some kind; a double-bladed sword. Doom sat petrified by this unknown figure.
"Who...who are you?" The ghost asked, hoarsely.
Doom quickly composed himself. "I-I am Victor Von Doom." He said. "A-and you a-are."
Doom didn't know why he was so afraid of this spirit. He had never felt such fear facing off against any other undead creature! So why was this one any different? It was the eyes. Those yellow, sunken eyes that held him trapped in horror.
"My name?..My name is Ajunta Paul." The ghost said. "I was once a Sith Lord."
Doom remembered seeing something like Paul written on a stone door on his way to the cave.
"But this isn't your tomb! How are you here?" He asked.
Ajunta thought for a moment. "I am..bound?...No, not bound to...my tomb. I may..travel."
Doom assessed that Ajunta had memory problems. "How did you die?" He asked all of a sudden.
Ajunta's yellow eyes, seemed to reveal a grin from underneath that mask! "Allow me to show you."
He raised his hands up and the ceiling above Doom started to crumble! Doom jumped out of the way as tons of gray stone came crashing down! When he recovered, Ajunta was gone.
He looked at the hole in the ceiling, and saw nothing but dark matter fluxuating in and out of reality! He was inside some other dimension!
There was a shadow...a very familiar shadow! Reed Richards walked into Doom's view from the top of the hole. But something was wrong with him...he looked old, and dead! His eyes were a sickly shade of yellow, and his mouth was halfway torn off revealing several yellow decayed teeth. His skin looked gray, and necrotised, and his face and hands were smeared with blood!
"R-Richards! What the hell happened to you?" Doom shouted, absolutely shocked.
"I've had a revelation, Victor." Zombie Reed said in a gravely demonic voice, that sounded like it should be coming from Apocolypse!
"What?"
"I realize that I'm much happier here without Sue. You see, without her, I can do whatever I want to anyone!" Zombie Reed droned, an insane aura filled the air.
The kind of insane aura when you're in the same room with a crazy guy.
"You...I knew you were no good for her, Richards! I warned her!"
"Yes," He said, smiling a skeletal grin, the bones in his jaw clicking. "But lucky she didn't listen. Because now I have a snack that I can eat."
He pulled his stretched arm in, revealing Sue Richards to be in it, wrapped up like the prey of a king cobra!
"SUSAN!" Doom cried out.
Zombie Reed let out a maniacal laugh, filling the whole tomb with his insane laughter! Then he did the unthinkable! He pulled Sue close, as if to kiss her...and bit down on her head!
Doom froze completely scared out of his mind! He couldn't move! All he could do was watch as Zombie Reed unhinged his jaw and swallowed Sue whole! He chewed for a little while, the crunching sound of bones breaking, the snapping sound of tendons and muscles being grinded up, was sickening to Doom!
When he finally swallowed, Doom let out a cry of rage! He held out a hand as if to choke the undead genius, and as if by magic, did choke him!
Zombie Reed was lifted a meter off the ground by an invisible hand, grasping at his throat! Doom didn't even seem to notice! He tightened his invisible grip on the head of the zombie. And in one little motion of his fingers clenching into a fist, Zombie Reed's head popped like an overgrown zit, spilling brains and blood all over the walls and floor!
As the body of the once great Mr. Fantastic fell to the floor, it vanished! All the blood was gone too. Was it all an illusion? That was a relief, but what had he done just now? He had never studied that kind of magic!
Suddenly he felt a chill. He turned around to see a door. That hadn't been there before! He opened it slowly, half expecting to see the zombie versions of Human Torch and Thing. But instead, only a small skeleton laying opened and exposed in a broken stone coffin. All his belongings looked to be gone...stolen, maybe.
Another door appearred in front of Doom. He hoped he was done here, because he felt afraid. No longer for himself, but for Susan. No, not even for Susan...for the one he truly loved-The Force!
Korriban: The Cave: 1:00 a.m.
Dr. Doom walked slowly out of the tomb, back into the dingy cave where Force Susan sat meditating in front of the stone tomb. She opened her eyes, saw him, stood up to greet him...and was taken by surprise when Doom hugged her! His embrace was strong, yet gentle at the same time.
"Doom." She said. "I know what happened. It's okay..."
"No...it's not. I won't let any harm come to you! Never again!" He said.
"It was only an illusion. You summoned my powers to kill it, and overcome it." She said, and gently embraced him back. "I think we are finally connected."
"How do you mean?" Doom asked, both of them letting go of the other.
"You have been enlightened. You and I.." She grabbed his hand and squeezed slightly. "We are one. You can use my powers, and I can feel your emotions."
"Then you know what I'm feeling now." He said, matter-of-factly.
"Yes." Force Susan said.
She slowly removed Doom's metal mask, and drew him close. Their lips met, and Doom could feel the power flowing through her. He felt his face start to change. When she pulled away from him, he felt his face.
"M-my...scars...they're gone!" Doom said, tearing up. "You healed me."
"You deserve it...lover."
Atlantis: Treasure Chamber: 1:00 a.m.
Palleon and Namor made their way down to the door leading to the vault. Namor, still believing Palleon was Sue, happily opened the door, and allowed him to step inside first.
"This is the treasurey as I'm sure you remember my darling?" Namor sleezed.
Palleon grinned. Namor was still standing outside the door! He turned on his disruptor and and closed the door on a screaming Namor!
When the air was clear of water, Palleon removed the mask, and the suit disappeared. He looked around, and on the highest case, saw what he seeked: The golden, all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet!
"I've finally found it!" Palleon whooped.
He ran up, busted the glass with his elbow, which hurt quite a bit, and grabbed the Gauntlet! It slipped onto his left hand perfectly, and instantly he could feel the power of the cosmos coursing through him!
"This power...feels incredible!" He shouted.
He didn't care if anyone heard him! He had the ultimate power now! He could even take on Thor and win now!
Outside the Vault: Atlantis: 1:06 a.m.
Namor was still on the ground, shaking off the ringing in his ears. He felt them to make sure they were okay. They unfortunately, were bleeding. He looked towards the surface and saw Iron Man, Thor, Nick Fury, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, and Dr. Strange floated downward toward Namor.
"Avengers.." He managed. "Why, Sue attacked me. In the vault."
Iron Man helped him up. "It's not the Invisible Woman."
"It is a man from another world." Dr. Strange told him. "One bent on aquiring-"
"The Infinity Gauntlet!" Palleon shouted.
The vault was open and Palleon stood there with a triumphant look on his mustached face!
"Good-bye, heroes!" He screamed, and fired a giant blast of pure cosmic energy at them!
Thor and Dr. Strange jumped in front of the blast and cast protective shells of magic around the group. The blast was powerful, however. When it disappeared, Strange fainted, and Thor dropped to his knees, out of breath.
Iron Man fired a Unibeam blast at Palleon, which bounced off an invisible cosmic shield Palleon had around him! Palleon raised his hand again, and thousands of himself appeared around the Avengers!
"You can't defeat an army of us!" The Palleons shouted.
"There are many, but we are mighty!" Thor shouted.
"Yeah!" Wolverine shouted as well, unsheathing his adamantium claws with a SHING/SNIKT! "Bring 'em on!"
"Guys, we can't possibly fight this many people at once!" Cap yelled.
As if to confirm this, all the Palleons raised their hands in unison. The room was filled with a giant blue/white light which engulfed the Avengers...and burned them alive!
The water around the place in the ocean they were in evaporated instantly, and the beam disappeared! Palleon, all alone once again, stood over the skeleton's and armoured husk of Iron Man and his Avengers.
"Pitiful." He said. "Can't this thing teleport me?"
As if responding to him, he vanished in a flash of green light.
Iron Man got up slowly, opening his stinging eyes. He saw Thor and Wolverine were starting to grow back their skin already, and Ms. Marvel looked unaffected except she was knocked out. But the others...
He turned slowly towards the charred remains of Dr. Strange, Captain America, Nick Fury, and Namor. Water sloshed back into place as the heat disappeared. Iron Man's heart skipped a beat. His friends were gone. He'd lost Cap again! Was there nothing he could do right?
He looked up to the surface and let out several curses at the top of his lungs! Thor and Wolverine, their uniforms almost completely destroyed, had grown their bodies back, and walked over to Iron Man, and tried to comfort him. Iron Man openly wept.
Unknown place: Unknown time
The cosmic being opened his eyes. His senses were off the charts. If there was to be anything as powerful as to set off his mind, he must be worried. Thanos couldn't possibly be the cause of this, and the Elders of the Universe had been banished. Eternity would most definitely not harm anyone. That only left one item...The Infinity Gauntlet had been recovered!
Galactus folded his huge arms across his chest, and grunted. Yet another annoyance had disturbed his rest, and now the humans would pay! The coming of Galactus had begun!